Patriot militia groups are a dead end.

The Patriot Movement has been a sinking ship for years now, to the surprise of nobody. A mishmash of conservative ideologues being guided through the dark by the grossly incompetent, the American militiamen have become a thorn in the side of the far right. This problem needs to be directly addressed if we want right-wing activism to succeed.

The modern militia movement can be compared to ours in many ways because they see very similar problems to us but reach far different conclusions. They also express this awareness in an unhealthy and ultimately impotent fashion. They militarize against nothing. The things that a militia will express dissatisfaction with are tried and true Alt-Lite talking points like the dangers of Islam and the feminization of men. They show up to rallies half drunk, kitted out in cheap Condor Tactical plate carriers and loudly chant DR3-style rhetoric. These do not represent anything a White man of good character would associate himself with.

VICE recently released a video about the flagship chapter of the III%ers. It’s led by a man who needs to be woken up via gun fire from his alcohol-induced comatose state. These wayward middle class people express their fears to the camera, with no prep, and they act on this fear by playing army guy in the woods. While this no presents no real danger to anybody, they are the selected representation of our movement by the media. They are our Waffen SS to the news and normies, a weaponized group of party affiliates.

Their appearance is laughable to us, but play to television very well and they are often found next to field reporters and in front of cameras. Maybe you have even contemplated wearing some form of field kit to events or actually done it. Know that you have actively hurt what you are trying to help. Our movement is not a militant one and doesn’t need a waffen division. Call out any and all of these people who stumble out of the woods at every opportunity, in real life and online.

The other danger is creating dead-end time investments. Nothing can be gained from their activities that can’t be done through other organizations or activism. The end game for a lot of their actions is to just show up places dressed like a shitty security company. This has the toxic effect of limiting long term goals for any movement that tolerates their existence.

“The point of the rally isn’t about raising awareness, the point was we had a rally.”

These people are ultimately self-destructive and a cancer to any movement they associate with. Look at the Tea Party, the sovereign citizen movement, the militia movement of the 80’s and 90’s, etc. They killed all of these well-intentioned organizations with their unnecessary trailer trash flexing. If you see a Punisher skull with a thin blue line through it, run.